Channel Modeling and LED Spot Detection for Dense Image-Sensor Visible Light Communication

TL;DR

This paper presents a robust decoding framework for dense LED-based visible light communication that effectively handles optical distortions and overlaps, maintaining high signaling density and improving decoding accuracy.

Contribution

It introduces a pilot-aided geometric recognition method with distortion correction and vignetting compensation to enhance signal detection in complex VLC scenarios.

Findings

Achieves higher decoding accuracy than baseline methods.

Maintains full LED signaling density without increasing interference.

Demonstrates effectiveness in real-world VLC testbed.

Abstract

High-density LED arrays enable high-speed transmission in image-sensor-based visible-light communication (VLC) systems. However, when optical spots become blurred and spatially overlapped due to focal shift, resolution limitations, or interference, severe inter-symbol interference (ISI) occurs, significantly degrading decoding performance. Furthermore, radial distortion introduces geometric deformation of the LED grid, while vignetting leads to incomplete and asymmetric spot shapes at the periphery, both of which further hinder reliable signal detection. Existing methods mitigate ISI by reducing LED transmission signaling density. This paper proposes a robust decoding framework that maintains full LED signaling density. We introduce a pilot-aided geometric recognition method that uses a PSF-constrained Hough transform and circle-center alignment refinement. \textbf{In addition, radial distortion correction and vignetting-aware compensation are incorporated to restore geometric consistency and suppress edge-related detection errors.} By leveraging prior structural knowledge from pilot frames, the system effectively separates overlapping LED signals under severe optical distortion. Experimental results on a real-world VLC testbed confirm that the proposed method achieves superior decoding accuracy and throughput compared to conventional Hough-based and low-density baseline methods. The results highlight its potential for high-efficiency VLC applications in interference-prone environments.